The Chinese Students Union (CSU) rang in the New Year with its Chinese New Year celebration Saturday night at Highland Park Presbyterian Church.

Students from both Southern Methodist Univeristy and University of Texas-Southwest co-hosted this event, which was open to the general public.

The event featured an array of cultural and traditional Chinese customs.

“I’m here to enjoy the celebration for New Year’s,” SMU sophomore Lindsay Hong said.

A local Chinese restaurant catered several spicy dishes for the event.

Student groups performed a variety of musical acts, including hip-hop dances and Chinese pop songs. Other acts included a parody talk show featuring SMU sophomore Haoyi Yu.

Hundreds of students, faculty members, community members and companies with Chinese culture ties flooded the auditorium.

Besides entertaining the local Chinese-American community, CSU hoped to provide a way for those interested to experience Chinese culture.

“We’re inviting [everyone interested in Chinese culture] to come and join us for the dinner and show tonight,” Rong Qian, an SMU sophomore and CSU member, said.

Alex Chang, a freshman biomedical engineering student, decided to attend the event because “I’m part Taiwanese, so I’m interested in Asian culture.”

The Chinese New Year does not have a fixed date but rather follows the lunar calendar and changes every year.

This year falls in the Year of the Dragon.

Considered one of the most important cultural events, this festival is celebrated in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as countries with large Chinese populations such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

While Chinese New Year customs may vary from community to community, many of the practices remain the same.

Traditionally, adults hand out red packets of money to children, and families exchange gifts.

All homes are completely cleaned to start the New Year fresh.

Lastly, many people wear red, as the color is considered lucky.

SMU Chinese language professors instructed classes on how to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

“All teachers spent some time in class introducing Chinese New Year: the origin, the preparation before New Year, the decorations and do’s and don’t’s on the first day of New Year and Chinese zodiac,” Yan Xia, the Chinese Area Advisor, said.

This year’s Chinese New Year took place on Jan. 23.